Discovery of genes that affect human brain connectivity: A genome-wide analysis of the connectome

Human brain connectivity is disrupted in a wide range of disorders from Alzheimer's disease to autism but little is known about which specific genes affect it. Here we conducted a genome-wide association for connectivity matrices that capture information on the density of fiber connections between 70 brain regions. We scanned a large twin cohort (N=366) with 4-Tesla high angular resolution diffusion imaging (105-gradient HARDI). Using whole brain HARDI tractography, we extracted a relatively sparse 70×70 matrix representing fiber density between all pairs of cortical regions automatically labeled in co-registered anatomical scans. Additive genetic factors accounted for 1-58% of the variance in connectivity between 90 (of 122) tested nodes. We discovered genome-wide significant associations between variants and connectivity. GWAS permutations at various levels of heritability, and split-sample replication, validated our genetic findings. The resulting genes may offer new leads for mechanisms influencing aberrant connectivity and neurodegeneration. © 2012 IEEE.

Discovery and replication of gene influences on brain structure using LASSO regression

We implemented least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression to evaluate gene effects in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of brain images, using an MRI-derived temporal lobe volume measure from 729 subjects scanned as part of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Sparse groups of SNPs in individual genes were selected by LASSO, which identifies efficient sets of variants influencing the data. These SNPs were considered jointly when assessing their association with neuroimaging measures. We discovered 22 genes that passed genome-wide significance for influencing temporal lobe volume. This was a substantially greater number of significant genes compared to those found with standard, univariate GWAS. These top genes are all expressed in the brain and include genes previously related to brain function or neuropsychiatric disorders such as MACROD2, SORCS2, GRIN2B, MAGI2, NPAS3, CLSTN2, GABRG3, NRXN3, PRKAG2, GAS7, RBFOX1, ADARB2, CHD4, and CDH13. The top genes we identified with this method also displayed significant and widespread post hoc effects on voxelwise, tensor-based morphometry (TBM) maps of the temporal lobes. The most significantly associated gene was an autism susceptibility gene known as MACROD2.We were able to successfully replicate the effect of the MACROD2 gene in an independent cohort of 564 young, Australian healthy adult twins and siblings scanned with MRI (mean age: 23.8±2.2 SD years). Our approach powerfully complements univariate techniques in detecting influences of genes on the living brain.

Discovery and replication of dopamine-related gene effects on caudate volume in young and elderly populations (N1198) using genome-wide search

The caudate is a subcortical brain structure implicated in many common neurological and psychiatric disorders. To identify specific genes associated with variations in caudate volume, structural magnetic resonance imaging and genome-wide genotypes were acquired from two large cohorts, the Alzheimer's Disease NeuroImaging Initiative (ADNI; N=734) and the Brisbane Adolescent/Young Adult Longitudinal Twin Study (BLTS; N=464). In a preliminary analysis of heritability, around 90% of the variation in caudate volume was due to genetic factors. We then conducted genome-wide association to find common variants that contribute to this relatively high heritability. Replicated genetic association was found for the right caudate volume at single-nucleotide polymorphism rs163030 in the ADNI discovery sample (P=2.36 × 10 -6) and in the BLTS replication sample (P=0.012). This genetic variation accounted for 2.79 and 1.61% of the trait variance, respectively. The peak of association was found in and around two genes, WDR41 and PDE8B, involved in dopamine signaling and development. In addition, a previously identified mutation in PDE8B causes a rare autosomal-dominant type of striatal degeneration. Searching across both samples offers a rigorous way to screen for genes consistently influencing brain structure at different stages of life. Variants identified here may be relevant to common disorders affecting the caudate.

Service composition and binding

Service composition enables the creation of services previously unavailable through the aggregation of existing services. The result is called a service composition. Exposing a service composition as a service, the result is called a composed service. It can be distinguished from atomic services. Service composition approaches can be differentiated along two axes: point in time of composition and degree of automation. With design-time and run-time we can identify two different points in time for doing a composition. Additionally we can distinguish between three different degrees of automation: manual, assisted, and automated service composition. © 2008 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Introduction to the Proceedings of the Workshop on User-Focused Service Engineering, Consumption and Aggregation (USECA) 2011

The first User-Focused Service Engineering, Consumption and Aggregation workshop (USECA) in 2011 was held in conjunction with the WISE 2011 conference in Sydney, Australia. Web services and related technology are a widely accepted standard architectural paradigm for application development. The idea of reusing existing software components to build new applications has been well documented and supported for the world of enterprise computing and professional developers. However, this powerful idea has not been transferred to end-users who have limited or no computing knowledge. The current methodologies, models, languages and tools developed for Web service composition are suited to IT professionals and people with years of training in computing technologies. It is still hard to imagine any of these technologies being used by business professionals, as opposed to computing professionals. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.

Towards adaptive management of QoS-aware service compositions - Functional architecture

Service compositions enable users to realize their complex needs as a single request. Despite intensive research, especially in the area of business processes, web services and grids, an open and valid question is still how to manage service compositions in order to satisfy both functional and non-functional requirements as well as adapt to dynamic changes. In this paper we propose an (functional) architecture for adaptive management of QoS-aware service compositions. Comparing to the other existing architectures this one offers two major advantages. Firstly, this architecture supports various execution strategies based on dynamic selection and negotiation of services included in a service composition, contracting based on service level agreements, service enactment with flexible support for exception handling, monitoring of service level objectives, and profiling of execution data. Secondly, the architecture is built on the basis of well know existing standards to communicate and exchange data, which significantly reduces effort to integrate existing solutions and tools from different vendors. A first prototype of this architecture has been implemented within an EU-funded Adaptive Service Grid project. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.

Implementing process views in the web service environment

Web service and business process technologies are widely adopted to facilitate business automation and collaboration. Given the complexity of business processes, it is a sought-after feature to show a business process with different views to cater for the diverse interests, authority levels, etc., of different users. Aiming to implement such flexible process views in the Web service environment, this paper presents a novel framework named FlexView to support view abstraction and concretisation of WS-BPEL processes. In the FlexView framework, a rigorous view model is proposed to specify the dependency and correlation between structural components of process views with emphasis on the characteristics of WS-BPEL, and a set of rules are defined to guarantee the structural consistency between process views during transformations. A set of algorithms are developed to shift the abstraction and concretisation operations to the operational level. A prototype is also implemented for the proof-of-concept purpose. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

A service-oriented architecture for text analytics enabled business applications

Experiences showed that developing business applications that base on text analysis normally requires a lot of time and expertise in the field of computer linguistics. Several approaches of integrating text analysis systems with business applications have been proposed, but so far there has been no coordinated approach which would enable building scalable and flexible applications of text analysis in enterprise scenarios. In this paper, a service-oriented architecture for text processing applications in the business domain is introduced. It comprises various groups of processing components and knowledge resources. The architecture, created as a result of our experiences with building natural language processing applications in business scenarios, allows for the reuse of text analysis and other components, and facilitates the development of business applications. We verify our approach by showing how the proposed architecture can be applied to create a text analytics enabled business application that addresses a concrete business scenario. © 2010 IEEE.

Architecture for service profiling

Service oriented architecture is gaining momentum. However, in order to be successful, the proper and up-to-date description of services is required. Such a description may be provided by service profiling mechanisms, such as one presented in this article. Service profile can be defined as an up-to-date description of a subset of non-functional properties of a service. It allows for service comparison on the basis of non-functional parameters, and choosing the service which is most suited to the needs of a user. In this article the notion of a service profile along with service profiling mechanism is presented as well as the architecture of a profiling system. © 2006 IEEE.

An exploratory study into managing value creation in tourism service firms: Understanding value creation phases at the intersection of the tourism service firm and their customers

To satisfy customers, managers of tourism services need to understand their customers' value requirements and then develop a unique service value offering based on those requirements. This understanding underpins their effort to provide superior value to customers and deliver the proposed services through employees. Problematically, previous work on value creation (i.e. customer value) has focused separately on either the firm or customer. This theoretical separation does not allow investigation of whether there may be discrepancies between what value firms offer and what value customers perceive they have received. We bring tourism service firms (manager and employee) and customers together and examine the nature of a tourism service provider's value proposition, its contribution to the value offering, and subsequent impact on customers' perceived-value-in-use. We focus on the important role that employees play as boundary spanning workers in the value creation phases, linking the tourism service provider and customer.

Service-learning through multiple client-sponsored projects in an MBA marketing course

This paper outlines an approach for teaching Marketing Principles in an MBA course through service-learning to enable adult learners to connect the lectures’ marketing content to a real-world marketing project. During the course, 40 students in groups of four to five individuals were involved in eight different client-sponsored marketing projects executed simultaneously. The rationale, planning and management of this approach utilised current research on service-learning, living cases and client-sponsored projects in marketing education. The experimental curriculum design is presented in a timeline that mirrors the preparation and management of the group projects and the considerations to be taken into account when initiating and facilitating the projects. Reflections from this iteration of the service-learning design suggest the importance of: detailed project planning, the involvement of students in choosing the projects, the introduction of forms and feedback loops, the role of the instructor in facilitating the students and managing expectations, and the role of the company representative in supporting the groups.

Perceived quality of e‐health services: A conceptual scale development of e‐health service quality based on the C‐OAR‐SE approach

Purpose Health service quality is an important determinant for health service satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate requirements of e‐health services and to develop a measurement model to analyze the construct of “perceived e‐health service quality.” Design/methodology/approach The paper adapts the C‐OAR‐SE procedure for scale development by Rossiter. The focal aspect is the “physician‐patient relationship” which forms the core dyad in the healthcare service provision. Several in‐depth interviews were conducted in Switzerland; first with six patients (as raters), followed by two experts of the healthcare system (as judges). Based on the results and an extensive literature research, the classification of object and attributes is developed for this model. Findings The construct e‐health service quality can be described as an abstract formative object and is operationalized with 13 items: accessibility, competence, information, usability/user friendliness, security, system integration, trust, individualization, empathy, ethical conduct, degree of performance, reliability, and ability to respond. Research limitations/implications Limitations include the number of interviews with patients and experts as well as critical issues associated with C‐OAR‐SE. More empirical research is needed to confirm the quality indicators of e‐health services. Practical implications Health care providers can utilize the results for the evaluation of their service quality. Practitioners can use the hierarchical structure to measure service quality at different levels. The model provides a diagnostic tool to identify poor and/or excellent performance with regard to the e‐service delivery. Originality/value The paper contributes to knowledge with regard to the measurement of e‐health quality and improves the understanding of how customers evaluate the quality of e‐health services.

Quality in group service encounters: A theoretical exploration of the concept of a simultaneous multi‐customer co‐creation process

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of service quality for settings where several customers are involved in the joint creation and consumption of a service. The approach is to provide first insights into the implications of a simultaneous multi‐customer integration on service quality. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper undertakes a thorough review of the relevant literature before developing a conceptual model regarding service co‐creation and service quality in customer groups. Findings Group service encounters must be set up carefully to account for the dynamics (social activity) in a customer group and skill set and capabilities (task activity) of each of the individual participants involved in a group service experience. Research limitations/implications Future research should undertake empirical studies to validate and/or modify the suggested model presented in this contribution. Practical implications Managers of service firms should be made aware of the implications and the underlying factors of group services in order to create and manage a group experience successfully. Particular attention should be given to those factors that can be influenced by service providers in managing encounters with multiple customers. Originality/value This article introduces a new conceptual approach for service encounters with groups of customers in a proposed service quality model. In particular, the paper focuses on integrating the impact of customers' co‐creation activities on service quality in a multiple‐actor model.

Key determinants of real estate service quality among renters and buyers

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare quality perceptions of virtual servicescapes and physical service encounters among buyers and renters of real estate. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data from a sample of 27 professionals engaged in higher education in the USA are gathered by recorded interview before being transcribed and imported into MAXQDA 2007 software for analytical coding. Findings Particular differences are found to exist between renters and buyers with regard to specific service attributes – for example, description of properties and type of visuals during the pre‐purchase stage, knowledge/experience and honest behavior of realtors during the service encounter stage and a continuous relationship with the realtor in the post‐encounter stage. Research limitations/implications Generalization of the results is limited because the study utilizes data from only one industry (real estate) and from only one demographic segment (professionals in higher education). Practical implications Real‐estate firms need to pay attention to both the training of agents and the design and content of their websites. Originality/value This paper contributes to knowledge regarding virtual servicescapes in professional services.

The role of emotions in service customer decision-making

This chapter explains how customers make purchase decisions and how these decisions are influenced not only by the service marketer but also by the customers own emotions. While decision-making is described from the perspective of purchasing services rather than purchasing goods, we challenge the traditional notion that customers make informed, rational and well-thought-out decisions. Rather customers are often driven by subjective feelings such as emotions. We present evidence of how these emotions influence the behavior of customers, their attitudes and evaluation of the service, as well as final decision-making processes.